


the lies we tell

by SymphonySoldierXIII



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: High School AU, Multi, bad boy falls for nerd dumb bitch natsu, chatacters will be added as we go along, some of the characters are just mentioned, there WILL be allusions to hsm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:27:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymphonySoldierXIII/pseuds/SymphonySoldierXIII
Summary: At Magnolia High, everyone steers clear of the cool kids. They're practically royalty - adored, feared, and, in the infamous heartbreaker Gray Fullbuster's case, resented. But sometimes the image people have for the world to see is really just another one of the lies they tell.





	1. ♬ ɴᴀᴛsᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ɢʀᴀʏ's sᴜᴘᴇʀ ᴀᴡᴇsᴏᴍᴇ sᴏᴜɴᴅᴛʀᴀᴄᴋ ᴏғ ~ʟᴏᴏᴏᴠᴇ~

i. Celebrity Status — Marianas Trench

 

❝ _I look around, round, look around and look it over,_  
_I take it up, up take it out and take you nowhere,_  
_Trading in who I've been for shiny celebrity skin_  
_I like to push it and push it until my luck is over_ ❞

 

ii. 400 Lux — Lorde

 

❝ _I love these roads where the houses don't change_  
_Where we can talk like there's something to say_ ❞

 

iii. Jungle — X Ambassadors

 

❝ _Well it's too long living in the same old lives_  
_I feel too cold to live, too young to die_  
_Will you walk the line, like it's there to choose?_  
_Just forget the wit, it's the best to use_ ❞

 

iv. Bad Romance — Lady Gaga

 

❝ _I want your love and_  
_I want your revenge_  
_You and me could write a bad romance_ ❞

 

v. No Money — Galantis

 

❝ _Sorry, I ain't got no money, I'm not trying to be funny_  
_But I left it all at home today_  
_You can call me what you wanna, I ain't giving you a dollar_  
_This time I ain't gonna run away_  
_You might knock me down, you might knock me down_  
_But I will get back up again_  
_You can call it how you wanna, I ain't giving you a dollar_  
_This time I ain't gonna run away_ ❞

 

vi. Stand Up — The Cab

 

❝ _Yeah, when they knock you down, kid, you gotta stand up_  
_Yeah, when they got you down, gotta make your own luck_  
_So, tell me I'm outta my mind, give me a sign, take it one step at a time_  
_I know it's gonna be fine, open your eyes, shut up and give it a try_  
_Yeah, when they knock you down, kid, you gotta stand up_ ❞

 

vii. The Mighty Fall — Fall Out Boy

 

❝ _Whoa, how the mighty fall, the mighty fall, the mighty fall, they fall in love_  
_How the mighty fall, the mighty fall, the mighty fall_  
_Oh, how the mighty fall in love_ ❞

 

 

viii. What I Need — Hayley Kiyoki ft. Kehlani

 

❝ _When we’re all alone, girl, you wanna own it_  
_When we’re with your fam, you don’t wanna show it_  
_Oh, you try to keep us on the low_ _I only want a girl who ain’t afraid to love me_  
_Not a metaphor of what we really could be_  
_Oh, I ain’t putting on a show_  ❞

 

 

ix. Sunday Mornings — Maroon 5

 

 

❝ _But things just get so crazy, living life gets hard to do_  
_Sunday morning, rain is falling and I'm calling out to you_  
_Singing, someday it'll bring me back to you_  
_Find a way to bring myself back home to you_ ❞

 

x. Golden Light — Madden

 

❝ _I just wanna feel your love, I need your love_  
_Wake me back to life_  
_Give me, give me one more night_  
_And I'll hold you tight in the golden light_ ❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these are songs with lyrics that fit the content of each chapter, it’ll be here if you want to listen while reading if you wanna get the full experience™, also im making a playlist of the story’s official soundtrack and im going to post it in this part after i finish it.
> 
> will be updated as we go


	2. I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo kind reader I wanna say some important stuff! I started this fic on wattpad back in 2014 and since then I’ve revised it SO many times but anyway this fic is my baby that I personally gave birth to and am finally formatting and posting for ao3 so blease ....... give him some love I’m trying super hard here thank u
> 
>  
> 
> **no archive warnings apply.**

Monday. 1:59 PM. Evergreen Sato's AP Calculus class.

 

The advanced class was fifty minutes long, and Mirajane Strauss had spent more than half of it staring at the teacher instead of the whiteboard behind her. Of course, Gray Fullbuster had spent all forty minutes with his school bag on his desk, blocking his phone from Ms. Sato's view.

Glancing over at his silver-haired friend of nearly six years now, Gray smirked slightly. He quickly sent Mira a text, causing her phone to vibrate in her hand. She jumped slightly, snapping out of her daydreaming state to check her phone - and turn off vibrate before someone noticed the quiet yet noticeable alert noise.

 

Gray: _Don't even try to deny it. My little Mira has a crush on the math teacher._ (Sent at 1:59 PM)

 

His gaze still resting on Mira, Gray tried not to laugh as the silver-haired girl’s face flushed.

 

Mira: _I do not! And since when am I your "little" Mira? Last time I checked, I'm older than you!_ (Sent at 1:59 PM) 

 

Gray: _you'll always be my little Mira, and you don't have a choice in this._ (Sent at 2:00 PM)

 

Gray: _oh, and don't think I haven't noticed how you spend the whole class paying more attention to Freed than the actual lesson. Hell, even Sting noticed, and he's not even in this class!_ (Sent at 2:00 PM)

 

Mira: _fine, maybe I do have a little crush on her. But it's not like you pay attention either!_ (Sent at 2:01 PM)

 

Gray: _it's not like I need to or anything._ (Sent at 2:01 PM)

 

Mira: _have fun getting an F then!_ (Sent at 2:01 PM)

 

Gray: _I'd say have fun getting a d, but it's not like you will - not from evergreen, at least._ (Sent at 2:02 PM)

 

Upon seeing his friend's face turn bright red, Gray laughed to himself and slipped his phone into his pocket.

"I believe that's all the time we have for today. Your homework is all of page two thirty-five, I'll see you all tomorrow."

As soon as Evergreen finished speaking, the bell rang, and within seconds the classrooms emptied and students flooded into the hallways.

"Hey, guys!" A familiar voice greeted Gray and Mirajane as soon as they left the math classroom.

"Damn, Sting, isn't your class on the other side of the building? How do you get here so fast?" Gray laughed, shaking his head.

"It's a gift," the blonde smirked, laughing as well. "So, you doing anything after school?"

"Probably not."

"Wait, Gray, weren't you and Juvia going to meet up at the cafe later?" Mira reminded him.

"Oh, right, that."

"You don't seem too happy."

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to be passing out from joy at the fact that I'm getting to see my overly clingy girlfriend for an hour more than usual, at some shitty cafe, no less? Thanks, but I'll pass on giving a useless display of 'happiness'."

Mira sighed as she realized she wouldn't have any luck convincing Gray to show a bit more emotion in his relationship with a certain blue-haired classmate. She'd noticed that he had a tendency to do this in relationships - it was as if half of his heart was encased in ice, frozen away and unable to be released. He'd care about them just enough to get them to stay, but not enough to keep them. And it seemed that he always knew exactly when to end the relationship - _right_ before they realize he couldn't give half a shit about them, and right before they start losing feelings for him.

The silver-haired female had watched her friend go through more relationships than she could count over the years they'd known each other, and out of them all, only one had ever gotten past the wall of ice in his heart. Then again, that was the one that put it there in the first place.

Speaking of relationships and girlfriends...

"Gray, my love!" Juvia called, approaching the three at their lockers.

"Sup, Juvia?" Gray stated, rather than asked, retrieving his history textbook from his locker.

"How was your math class?" She smiled, leaning up against him slightly.

"Eh, a bit too easy," he shrugged, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I don't even have to pay attention half the time."

"Do you wish to be in a more advanced class, Gray-sama?"

"Juvia, AP Calc is the highest class this school has."

"Oh..." She glanced down at her feet in embarrassment.

"Yeah." He slammed his locker door shut. "You should probably get going, your class is on the other side of the school, isn't it? I wouldn't want you to be late." Gray placed a kiss on Juvia's forehead. "See you at the cafe after school?"

She nodded, grinning as she walked off down the hallway.

"I should be going too, see ya guys later!" Sting ran his hand through his blonde hair as he started off for his class.

Gray and Mira began walking down the hall as well.

Now, here's the thing about these two (five, if you count Sting, Juvia, and Cana's occasional appearance every now and then as well) - when they go anywhere in this school, everyone, and I mean everyone, moves out of the way. They don't shove themselves into lockers or anything like that, they just tend to stick to the sides of the hallway and leave room for the coolest, strongest - and some may even say hottest, even if it contrasts with the whole "coolest" thing - guy in school and his equally-attractive friends to get past.

And apparently, a certain pink-haired idiot didn't take note of the fact that the hallways were a bit less crowded than usual and made the mistake of running straight through this oddly empty hallway.

Okay, straight is the wrong word to use here.

Natsu Dragneel sprinted through the hallway at full speed after spotting his friends on the other side of campus. He made a beeline right for them - and didn't take note of who might be walking through the same hallway he decided to run through.

"LUCY! ERZA!" He shouted, waving to his friends as soon as the blonde and redhead were within his eyesight.

Erza reacted first as usual, turning around to locate Natsu in the crowd of students, only to find that the crowd wasn't as much of a crowd as she'd thought it was. There was a space in the middle... And what's the only reason there's ever a space in the hallway?

"Natsu, watch out!" She called back to him.

But of course, the pink-haired male didn't take notice of her warning and instead kept running through the hallway.

When he realized what Erza had tried to warn him about, it was too late. He crashed straight into Gray. (I should really stop using straight to describe Natsu)

Of course, only Natsu fell, along with Gray's history textbook.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!" Gray shouted.

"Crap, I'm so sorry!" Natsu stood up, laughing sheepishly as he held out the textbook.

He took the textbook. "You should be."

"Hey, I know I kinda just crashed into you, but you don't have to be so rude about it. I really am sorry."

"I'll do what I want, and I heard your apology the first time."

"Alright, whatever you say. See ya!" Natsu took off running down the hallway once more.

"You know, Gray, he was right, you didn't have to be so rude," Mira pointed out, crossing her arms as the two continued to walk.

"Do I have to say it again? I'll do what I want."

"I should be getting to class. I'll see you tomorrow," she stated, walking off to her own class and leaving the black-haired male standing alone.

"Do I have to say it again? I'll do what I want."

"I should be getting to class. I'll see you tomorrow," she stated, walking off to her own class and leaving the black-haired male standing alone.


	3. II

Monday. 3:22 PM. After school.

 

Just like they would on any average day, the redhead, the blonde, and the pink-haired idiot left school together. Not one of them had a car, and they all lived relatively close by one another, so walking home together had become a daily routine for the three over the past few months.

They left the school grounds, and immediately Natsu noticed something a bit off with his friends' behavior.

"Hey, uh, are you guys okay?" He asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "Did I do something?"

"Oh, nothing, just that you probably claimed the title of biggest idiot ever," Lucy replied sarcastically, laughing.

"How so?"

"Natsu, I've only been here a few months, and even I know not to even go close to Gray, let alone be stupid enough to run into him!"

"It was a simple mistake. What are you so worried about?" Natsu crossed his arms. "Especially you, Erza. Nothing scares you, yet for some reason this guy does? What's the big deal, anyway?"

"I'm not scared of him," Erza stated. "I'm just smart enough to know that at any given time, he can break any heart or bone he chooses."

"He... Breaks his own bones?" Natsu asked, confused.

Erza promptly smacked Natsu upside the head. "He's arguably one of the best fighters in the whole school, almost rivaling even my skills."

"Please, I'd like to see him try anything against me," Natsu smirked, punching the air in front of him a few times as a testament to this statement.

"Natsu, you listen to me. You don't want to mess with Gray. He would kick your ass twelve times over, and you'd come running back to us regretting even thinking you could take him, and I'd kick your ass twelve more times just for being an idiot and not listening to us. You already pissed him off once. You should stay away from him, for your own safety." With that, Erza turned and walked down a street leading to an alternate route to her house, leaving the remaining two to continue their walk home.

The sun had begun to set, hidden from their view just behind the houses that lined Erza's street. An orange glow was cast across the quickly darkening neighborhood.

"What's up with her?" Natsu asked.

"She won't tell me, but from what I've heard, she dated Gray a few years ago, and he seriously broke her heart."

"Hey, maybe that's why she's so heartless!" Natsu joked.

"Not the time, Natsu."

"Sorry. What was the entire story?"

"Levy told me that Erza and Gray went on a few dates before they became 'official'. Later that week, he asked her to a dance and broke up with her in front of everyone. People made fun of her through the end of the school year, but the first time someone so much as laughed within ten feet of her the next year she almost broke their neck, and since then nobody messed with her, but from what I can tell, she's still not over the whole thing."

"Wow, tough luck..." Natsu commented, subconsciously rubbing his neck. "How did Levy know that stuff?"

"She's pretty good friends with Gray's sister."

 _"Man, I sure hope his sister is nicer than he is,"_ Natsu thought.

"So, you busy after school tomorrow?" Lucy asked, changing the topic.

"Nope, why?"

"Wow, you really are an idiot. We have that huge test on Wednesday, remember? I was thinking we could study together after school?"

"Oh, crap, I totally forgot about that! Sure, you can come over to my place if you want."

 

Monday. 5:12 pm. Gray's room.

 

Fiore High's resident heartbreaker laid on his bed, music blasting through his headphones as usual.

"I just can't stop thinking about what happened earlier," he muttered, thinking aloud. "I can't believe the nerve of that guy... I was clearly walking, what the hell did he think he was doing? Who even is he? Why would he think he can just run into me, then start telling me how to fucking act?"

Gray sighed in frustration, tossing a small pillow in the air and promptly catching it.

"I mean, I guess I didn't have to be that rude about it, but it's not like he can just order me around. A lame comment from one random person isn't going to do anything, and it certainly isn't going to change how I act."

"Then again, Mira did back him up afterwards. Maybe he has a point, maybe I am kinda rude sometimes."

He threw the pillow across the room in annoyance, not really caring where it landed. (In case you're wondering, it landed on a chair.)

"Why am I letting this bother me? It's not even fucking important to me. I don't even know this guy, why am I letting this get to me?"

He turned the music running through his headphones up louder in an attempt to block out these thoughts that were doing nothing but annoying the shit out of him. He sat up, pulling his backpack onto the bed beside him. Maybe homework would manage to distract him when music couldn't, even though he knew the assignments wouldn't be challenging at all. Maybe some simple, almost mindless work was all he needed as a distraction.

The lights all around his room shone brightly like the stars that were quickly appearing in the night sky as the sun fell below the horizon.


	4. III

Tuesday. 7:54 AM. School hallway, by the lockers.

 

"Gray, my love, where were you yesterday?" Juvia asked, tears already flowing from her eyes as she approached her boyfriend.

"At home, why do you care?" Gray didn't care much for drama, which was one of the downsides of dating Juvia, probably the biggest crybaby in the school. Sure, she was arguably one of the hottest girls around, but her crying could be worse than Niagara Falls.

"You promised we were going to meet at the cafe! I waited for five hours!"

 _Well, that certainly takes dedication._ "You know, I never actually promised anything," he pointed out, slamming the door to his locker closed.

"But... But that's not fair! I thought you were going to be there!"

"Life isn't fair. See you at lunch?" Gray bent down slightly to give Juvia a quick and half-hearted kiss, smirking at her before he left the lockers and made his way down the crowded hall.

 

Still Tuesday. 7:57 am. Further down the same hallway.

 

"So, Erza, what did you end up doing yesterday?" Lucy asked.

"You know, after you ditched us?" Natsu added, which resulted in a sharp jab in the ribs from Lucy's elbow. "Ow!"

Disregarding Natsu's statement entirely (as she did with many things he said), Erza replied, "Homework, training, studying, nothing different than usual."

"You do the exact same thing every day! Doesn't it get boring, especially without any free time?" Natsu asked, thinking back to what he did last night.

 

_Monday. 9:48 PM. Natsu's apartment._

_The smell of freshly made popcorn had spread throughout the small apartment. As Natsu's dad, Igneel, was often away on business, Natsu didn't actually need that much space. He lived in a small place with his blue cat, Happy, and his weekly pay paired with the checks his dad sent him each month were enough to cover the rent and groceries, but it clearly wasn't enough for a car (which is why Natsu had to walk home each day.)_

_The volume on the TV was turned up loudly to allow Natsu to hear over the loud crunching of the popcorn he'd miraculously avoided burning. Happy meowed loudly, jumping up onto the couch and knocking an empty bag of chips onto the floor as he laid down beside his owner. Natsu reached over to pet the unusually colored cat, almost but not quite dropping his bag of popcorn._

_His phone rang, and he felt around on the couch before finally locating the device. "Hey, Lucy, what's up?" Natsu asked, setting the popcorn on the table and pausing the tv._

_After a short discussion about assignments and such, the conversation was over, and Natsu was free to resume watching tv._

 

"It just sounds boring because you prefer watching tv all day," Lucy reminded her friend.

"But at least I watch different shows! My schedule, unlike Erza's, has variety," Natsu gloated.

Throughout this conversation, Natsu's voice rang louder than the voices of anyone else, echoing through the hallway until the words ended up with Gray, whose gaze went cold as he continued walking, already annoyed with the pink-haired idiot.

As he approached the far end of the hallway, he caught sight of the brightly colored hair of the one he couldn't get out of his head the night before.

"Oh! Gray, right?" Natsu called as soon as the other male drew nearer to him. "Look, man, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I wasn't looking where I was going, and-"

"Shut the fuck up," he growled, tightly grasping Natsu's wrist and yanking him down the hallway.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted.

"Can't say I didn't warn him," Erza shook her head, sighing loudly.

"Hey, what's going on? I said I was sorry-" Natsu was immediately cut off, having lost his breath as Gray slammed him up against a wall of lockers. 

"'Sorry' isn't good enough, you asshole!"

"What did I do?" Natsu screeched, attempting to somehow avoid the only foreseeable fate (death).

"Ever since you ran into me yesterday like the idiot you are, I haven't been able to get you out of my fucking head! You don't even know how annoying this is for me!"

"Uh, I'm... Sorry, I think? Hey, wait, is this your way of telling me you like me or something, because-" 

"No! Why the hell would you think that?" Gray shouted, and because of the slight pink hue appearing on his face, Natsu couldn't tell if he was blushing or just really mad.

"Then-"

"I'll put it simply for you, then, since your tiny brain is clearly too stupid to understand what I've been saying." Gray took a step closer, pinning Natsu against the lockers. "Don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't even go near me again, or you'll be sorry."

As Gray walked away, Natsu rubbed his back. "Why couldn't that have happened against a regular wall? Lockers are more painful than they look," he murmured.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" Lucy called out, running up to her friend with Erza not far behind.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess. Did you know it really hurts to be held up against a locker?"

"Do what I told you, Natsu," Erza warned. "Stay away from him, for your own safety." 

The bell rang, and the three said their goodbye as they went their different ways to their first period classes.

 

Bonus: text conversation between Gray and Sting

 

Gray: _why the fuck won't that guy just leave me alone??_ (Sent at 8:01 AM)

 

Sting: _idk, i don't think he's trying to annoy you_ (Sent at 8:01 AM)

 

Sting: _maybe he's just trying to be nice?¿_ (Sent at 8:01 AM)

 

Gray: _followup question: how do u get someone to stop trying to be nice because its pissing me off_ (Sent at 8:02 AM)

 

Sting: idk how to help you dude (Sent at 8:02 AM)

 

Sting: _shit i gotta go class is starting_ (Sent at 8:02 AM)

 

Sting: ([image](https://i.imgur.com/QjAjJLz.png)) (Sent at 8:02 AM)

 

Sting: _here have a meme ill talk to u later_ (Sent at 8:02 AM)

 

Gray: _lol thanks sting_ (Sent at 8:15 AM)


	5. IV

Tuesday. 12:25 PM. Cafeteria.

 

"So, what happened?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I stapled my thumb, and it hurt less than I thought it would!" Natsu held up his left hand, where his thumb was wrapped tightly in a bandage. "But this one guy helped me take it out. You know, that emo kid that never talks. What was his name? Shit, he sits right behind me in chemistry, what's his name?"

"That's not what I was talking about, Natsu," Lucy frowned. "I meant, what happened with Gray this morning?"

"Focus, Lucy. What's the emo kid's name?"

"I don't know, I don't have any classes with him!"

Natsu sighed, taking a large bite of his pizza. "So what were you trying to ask me?"

"What happened with Gray earlier? I mean, he dragged you down the hallway, and Erza and I heard him yelling!"

"Oh, that! Well, not much, really, he just- there he is!" Natsu exclaimed.

" _Natsu_ ," Lucy warned, hoping he'd remember both Erza and Gray's previous warnings.

"Right, right, not going to bother him. Like I was saying, not much even really happened, he just screamed at me. And he shoved me against the lockers, which really hurt."

"That's all?"

"Pretty much. He was talking kinda weird, though, and it sounded for a second like he likes me or something," Natsu laughed, reaching over to grab the trash left over from Lucy's lunch. "I'll be right back."

He weaved his way through lunch tables and students walking past to reach the nearest trash can, and as he threw away his and Lucy's trash, his hand brushed against someone else's. Looking up, he noticed it was the one person he was supposed to not accidentally brush hands with, let alone come within fifteen feet of, and while noticing this, he didn't notice Lucy, who had clearly seen this interaction, repeatedly slamming her head against the lunch table.

"Wow, I'm really sorry! I don't know why I keep running into you!" Natsu laughed, scratching the back of his neck subconsciously. He began to walk back to where Lucy was now laying on the table in defeat, but didn't get very far.

Gray's fist slammed into Natsu's cheek suddenly, causing Natsu to stumble. "I told you to stay away from me, or you'd regret it!"

"Ow! What the hell was that about?"

"Regretting it now, you pink-haired idiot?" Gray smirked.

"Now I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted, swinging his fist at Gray unsuccessfully, as he was stopped by someone.

Erza stood between the two, hand wrapped around Natsu's fist as she stared down at him. "Natsu, it's not worth it."

Natsu nodded, eyes opened wide, quickly scampering back to his and Lucy's table.

"Erza," Gray said flatly, acknowledging her presence.

"Gray," Erza returned the acknowledgement in an equally flat tone before turning to walk away.

Gray caught her arm. "Look, I want to apologize for-"

"Save your breath." Ezra yanked her arm away and walked off, past Natsu and Lucy and out of the cafeteria entirely.

"ROGUE!" Natsu shouted a few minutes later from his spot beside Lucy at their lunch table.

"...Yes?"

Natsu's face went pure red. He turned to face the 'emo kid' whose name he hadn't been able to remember earlier - who also happened to be seated at the table right next to his and Lucy's table.

Laughing sheepishly, Natsu held his hand out so the emo kid - Rogue - could see his bandaged thumb. "I just wanted to say thanks for getting the staple out of my thumb earlier!"

"No problem."

 

Tuesday. 2:08 PM. School hallway.

 

This was an oddly silent day. After Calculus, Sting met up with Gray and Mira, cheerful and energetic as usual, but after being met with an aura of awkwardness, discomfort, and slight anger, he felt his happiness fade, and after the three finished at their lockers, he left without more than a goodbye. The remaining two walked to their classes through the hallway that still cleared for them, but soon Mira's steps became quicker than Gray's and he had fallen behind.

"Gray!" The younger Fullbuster sibling called, running up beside her unsuspecting older brother and pushing him forward a bit.

Gray jumped, turning around to glare at his sister. "What the fuck, Stella? Where'd you even come from?"

"Mom."

Groaning loudly, Gray smacked his younger sister in the stomach with his textbook. "I didn't mean it like that, asshole."

Stella laughed, resting her arm on his shoulder as they continued walking. "So, what's up? I was calling you for, like, the past five minutes. Were you thinking about something that was more important than your wonderful little sister?"

"Everything's more important than you," Gray rolled his eyes, shrugging her arm off his shoulder. "But it was nothing. Just school stuff."

Stella frowned. "But you never think about school stuff." Suddenly, she gasped. "You were thinking about a person!"

"Dude, were you not listening? I said I was just thinking about school stuff. I have a test next period, I think."

"Sure you do, dickhead. Levy's in that class, and if you guys had a test, I'd know, 'cause she would have spent the past week studying for it. You were thinking about someone!" Stella grinned and began elbowing her brother in the side.

"Fine, so what if I was?"

"Who is it?"

"None of your damn business, that's who."

"Do you-" Stella stopped, then lowered her voice to a loud whisper. "Do you have a _crush_ on someone?"

"Fuck no, I have a girlfriend, remember? About this tall, cries like a fucking waterfall?" He held his hand up to where the top of Juvia's head would be for height reference.

"Whatever you say, dude, but I know when you have a crush on someone. Remember how I totally knew you liked Juvia? And Alex? And Kat? And-"

"That's enough," Gray sighed, walking over to an empty spot on the side of the hallway. "Let's say, _hypothetically_ , that maybe I do like someone else."

"Mmhmm. Yep. Totally hypothetical," Stella nodded seriously, sliding her glasses from their resting position on top of her head to in front of her eyes. "So, this hypothetical person you hypothetically have a massive fucking crush on. Tell me more."

"It's not a massive fucking crush!" Gray shouted. He noticed a few people staring at him, and he quickly cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "I mean, hypothetically, it wouldn't be a huge crush. Just like... Someone I _might_ like. If they decide to stop being an asshole to me."

"So, if this hypothetical person that you hypothetically might like - not hypothetically have a massive crush on - hypothetically decided to stop being a fucking asshole, you might hypothetically like them more. Am I getting this right?"

 "Uh... Yeah, pretty much."

"Would you break up with Juvia for this person?" Stella asked. "Hypothetically, I mean."

"Hypothetically, maybe. It's a possibility."

"Ooooooh, shit just got real!" Stella grinned. "One last question - if this person had a name, hypothetically, what would it be?"

Gray glanced down at his phone. "Oh, shit, I gotta get to class. See ya, asshole!" He took off running down the hallway, the exact opposite direction from where his class was.

"Love you too, asshole!" Stella called after him, laughing loudly. As she began walking to her own class, she spoke under her breath, "'Hypothetical crush' my ass. He's practically in love with whoever it is."


	6. V

Tuesday. 5:37 PM. Natsu's apartment.

 

Natsu and Lucy's definition of "studying": playing music through Lucy's bluetooth speakers as loud as possible, eating through Natsu's entire remaining supply of food, watching Netflix... Basically, everything _but_ actually studying.

On this particular Tuesday evening, the two were sitting on Natsu's couch, Happy laying in Lucy's lap, purring loudly, and Natsu sitting upside down, with his feet over the  back of couch and his head on the floor. Lucy's phone and speakers were playing their favorite station on Pandora and three bags of snacks were laid out on the coffee table - one with approximately three pieces of extra movie-theater butter popcorn remaining in it, one completely empty bag that once held Cool Ranch Doritos, and one  half-full bag of Lay's barbecue chips that Lucy kept reaching over to eat from.

Natsu sighed loudly. "I'm just... What does he even have against me? All I did was run into him!"

"I don't know, maybe he likes you or something."

"But he doesn't! I already thought of that and asked him!"

"Well, fuck, Natsu, maybe that's part of why he hates you-" Lucy realized what Natsu had said and dropped half of a barbecue chip right out of her mouth in shock. "What do you mean, _you asked him?"_

"Well, he said something like..." Natsu cleared his throat and lowered his voice to imitate Gray. "'I haven't been able to stop thinking about you and it's pissing me off!'"

"You forgot the part at the end where he'd call you an asshole," Lucy laughed, retrieving another barbecue chip.

"Right? Anyways, then I was like, 'Dude, is this your way of telling me you like me?' And then he said something else, but all I really remember is how much the lockers hurt against my back."

"Wow, I get why he's pissed. But hey, maybe he does like you. Might be why he got so mad when you said that."

"No way! Isn't he dating that girl, Juvia?"

"Yeah, but has he ever stayed with one person for very long anyways? Plus, it's not too impossible that he likes guys too, I think he dated that one guy for, like, two weeks."

"Lyon? I thought they were just friends!"

Lucy shrugged, biting into another chip. "All I know is what Levy told me. It was way before I moved here."

"Yeah, wow, that was back in sophomore year, I think. They were dating?" Natsu wondered, sitting up quickly. "Ow! Shit!" He exclaimed, holding his head as a horrible headache pulsed through it. "Why do you let me sit upside down like that?"

Lucy giggled. "It's fun watching you get a headache every time you sit up!"

Happy meowed, stretching his paws out in front of him. Lucy picked him up and spoke softly, "Someone has a crush on your dad!"

Meowing again, Happy leapt off the couch once Lucy set him down and scampered off, probably to go sleep in peace on Natsu's bed or in his sock drawer.

"Hey!" Natsu yelled, throwing one of the remaining pieces of popcorn at Lucy. "Stop convincing my cat that Gray likes me! What if he can speak cat and he finds out and gets even more pissed off at me?"

Laughing, Lucy threw the piece of popcorn back at Natsu. "At least the truth is out there and your cat knows it!"

"Hey, that reminds me, wanna watch The X-Files?" Natsu asked, picking up the two empty bags of chips and tossing them into the trash can in the kitchen.

"Sure, but what made you think of that?"

"'The truth is out there'," Natsu recited ominously as he plopped down on the couch beside Lucy. "The government can't keep aliens a secret forever!"

"Just like Gray can't keep his crush on you a secret forever!" Lucy teased.

"FUCK OFF," Natsu said loudly as he stole the bag of barbecue chips and put them beside him on the left, just out of Lucy's reach.

"Hey, give those back!"

"Nope!" Natsu grinned, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth.

An evil grin spread across her face as she folded her arms over her chest. "Wow, at least we know you can fit a lot in your mouth. Levy gave me Stella's number, should we call and see if Gray wants to know that?"

"Go ahead. Call her. See if me and my barbecue chips care."

"Okay, calling!" Lucy pressed on Stella's contact, and called her. Her bluetooth speakers disconnected, and the music - currently No Money by Galantis - paused.

Natsu stayed silent aside from the crunching of the chips as the phone rang. Lucy, smirking, held out her phone, which was set on speaker so Natsu could hear as well.

"Wait. Wait, shit, no, take your chips back!" Natsu practically threw the bag of chips at Lucy. "No chips are worth getting punched in the face! Again!"

Lucy laughed rather evilly as she popped one of the chips into her mouth. "Why thank you, my pink-haired friend-"

_"Hello?"_

Natsu and Lucy exchanged a look of panic. They'd completely forgotten that the phone was ringing.

"Oh, hey, Stella!" Lucy answered quickly. "I'm Lucy, Levy gave me your number a few days ago and I just wanted to say hi!"

 _"Oh, well, hi!"_ Stella laughed. _"Listen, I can't really talk right now, but I'll see you around school sometime!"_

"Alright, see ya!" Lucy ended the call just as Natsu burst out laughing.

"Fuck off," Lucy did her best to glare at Natsu, but soon began laughing as well. "Are we going to watch The X-Files or what?"

 

Bonus: text conversation between Gray and Stella

 

Stella: _gray_ (Sent at 5:41 PM)

 

Stella: _graaaaaay_ (Sent at 5:41 PM)

 

Stella: _hey asshole_ (Sent at 5:41 PM)

 

Stella: _dickhead_ (Sent at 5:42 PM)

 

Gray: _what the fuck do u want you're literally 15 feet away from me in ur own room_ (Sent at 5:42 PM)

 

Stella: _who do u like_ (Sent at 5:42 PM)

 

Gray: _no one fuck off_ (Sent at 5:43 PM)

 

Stella: _is it mira_ (Sent at 5:43 PM)

 

Gray: _fuck no i think she hates me rn_ (Sent at 5:43 PM)

 

Stella: _is it sting_ (Sent at 5:44 PM)

 

Gray: _nope_ (Sent at 5:44 PM)

 

Stella: _is it...._ (Sent at 5:44 PM)

 

Stella: _lyon?_ (Sent at 5:44 PM)

 

Gray: _i broke up with him in like 10th grade???_ (Sent at 5:44 PM)

 

Stella: _i had to try_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Stella: _you two were so cute together_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Gray: _ok and???_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Stella: _is it levy_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Gray: _who??_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Stella: _my friend_ (Sent at 5:45 PM)

 

Stella: _she's in ur history class_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Stella: _she sits like. two rows ahead of you_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Gray: _right, her. no not her_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Stella: _is it cana_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Gray: _no. do u have a fucking list or something???_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Stella: _yes is it lisanna_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Gray: _no!!_ (Sent at 5:46 PM)

 

Stella: _is it lucy?_ (Sent at 5:48 PM)

 

Gray: _who?_ (Sent at 5:48 PM)

 

Stella: _she just moved here a few months ago, blonde, friends with that natsu kid_ (Sent at 5:49 PM)

 

Gray: _oh. no_ (Sent at 5:49 PM)

 

Stella: _OH_ (Sent at 5:50 PM)

 

Stella: _FUCK I,M SSKFJKSWWPPWKKNSNDHV/_ (Sent at 5:50 PM)

 

Gray: _wtf_ (Sent at 5:50 PM)

 

Gray: _what the actual fuck stella_ (Sent at 5:50 PM)

 

Stella: _wsPDPSOKKKDN NSNSMD,V,VV..[[\aaaAAAA_ (Sent at 5:50 PM)

 

Gray: _calm the fuck down wtf_ (Sent at 5:51 PM)

 

Stella: _DO U LIKE NATSU_ (Sent at 5:51 PM)

 

Gray: _no??????_ (Sent at 5:51 PM)

 

Stella: _;)sure_ (Sent at 5:51 PM)

 

Gray: _why are you even asking me i told u i don't like anyone_ (Sent at 5:51 PM)

 

Stella: _ok bro whatever you say_ (Sent at 5:52 PM)

 

Gray: _wtf is that supposed to mean?_ (Sent at 8:25 PM)


	7. VI

Wednesday. 7:48 AM. School hallway.

 

"Holy shit, guys, I think I'm dead!" Stella yelled as she approached her group of friends.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Lisanna asked, tilting her head.

"Only the best fucking thing ever!" Stella cackled. "I finally have something to blackmail Gray with!"

"Tell us!" Levy urged.

"Okay, so, yesterday he was being weird as fuck and I was like, 'Dude, what's up, you're never this quiet,' and he was like, 'It's just some school shit,' and that's a fucking lie because he never gives a shit about school and so I, master detective Stella-Maris Fullbuster, realized this means he was thinking about a person and not just the usual, probably weird shit he normally thinks about. Then he went into all this hypothetical shit about _maybe_ liking someone if they stopped being such an asshole to him, so of course I immediately made a list of everyone I knew of who's been an asshole to him recently - myself excluded, but it should be noted that he considers me to be Queen Asshole and has referred to me as such in the past - and asked him about all of them until he got really pissed at me, and I've narrowed it down to a few people." Stella reached into her backpack to retrieve her list - a somewhat neatly folded piece of notebook paper. "So, we have..." Suddenly, Stella looked up and noticed a certain other blue-haired girl standing a few feet outside of their circle, tears already in her eyes, and she froze. "Oh, _shit_."

"Is this true?" Juvia asked, her voice shaking as she stared directly at Stella through glassy eyes that barely contained her tears.

Stella stepped forward to speak. "Shit, Juvia, fuck, you weren't supposed to-"

"I wasn't supposed to _what_? Know that my Gray-sama doesn't truly love me?" Tears spilled down Juvia's face as she turned quickly and ran down the hallway, away from the group.

"Fuck, Juvia, wait!" Stella called. She sighed loudly and leaned backward against the wall behind her, tilting her head back slightly and closing her eyes. "Well, this is just fucking wonderful."

 

Wednesday. 11:22 AM. Chemistry classroom.

 

The bell rang, signaling the end of third period, and Stella was ready to leave. All but a few of the seats were empty, the teacher had begun to clear off the whiteboard, and she was almost out the door when she heard a familiar voice.

"Stella? Can I talk to you?" Juvia asked, standing up from her desk and slinging her backpack over one shoulder.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Stella replied, knowing full well what was up.

"Does Gray-sama really like someone... someone else?"

Stella sighed quietly, sitting down on top of the closest desk. "Look, Juvia, I didn't mean for you to find out. I was teasing Gray yesterday and he kinda accidentally told me he might have a crush on someone, and I'm just making it seem like a much bigger deal than it really is," she explained, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly, it might just be nothing. He might have just been entirely fucking with me."

"Oh, alright, thank you Stella," Juvia smiled and began to walk out of the classroom, but it was clear that she was hurt.

Sliding off the edge of the desk, Stella called, "Hey, Juvia? You should talk to Gray. He'll probably take you more seriously than me, and would tell you the truth."

 

Wednesday. 12:30 PM. Cafeteria.

 

Stella sprinted into the cafeteria, practically launching herself off of one of the small benches to quickly sit down on the small, round lunch table her group had claimed, since, apparently, the cool thing to do was sit on the tables, not on the benches at the tables.

"Ho ho holy fuck, guys, today is fucking wild," she announced, placing her backpack up against her left leg, which rested on one of the four benches, and retrieving a bag of chips from the front compartment of the backpack.

"You're telling me," Loke, who was seated opposite Stella on the table, said as he turned to face her. "Your brother's been yelling at Lisanna's sister for the past ten minutes. Where even were you?"

"Um," Stella replied.

 

_Wednesday. 12:28 PM. School hallway._

_"I swear to fucking god, you piece of shit, you'd better listen the fuck up and do what I say before I fucking drop kick you all the way across the fucking country!" Stella muttered, gritting her teeth. "If I wasted five fucking dollars on this..."_

_For the tenth time now, Stella slammed her foot against the vending machine, which still wouldn't free her poor granola bar._

_"Come on!" She pleaded, trying her best to summon tears to her eyes. "Please?"_

_Nothing._

_The vending machine remained still, and Stella sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to steal five bucks from Gray later."_

_She hadn't even gotten five steps away from the vending machine when she heard something drop. Whirling around to face the vending machine once more, Stella's eyes lit up. She grinned as she kneeled on the ground in front of the vending machine, sticking her arm into the tray at the bottom to retrieve her granola bar._

 

"Whatever. Some serious shit's about to go down, so pay attention," Loke pointed over to where Gray, Mira, and Sting were seated.

Gray and Mira were pretty pissed, from what Stella could tell. They were yelling back and forth, and poor Sting was just sat beside them, staring into his burger like it held the answers to life (or at least the next math test). 

Stella's backpack flopped down onto the bench as she got up onto the table, kneeling so she could see the fight.

Suddenly, Mira stood up, still yelling, and the entire cafeteria went silent, save various whispers here and there. 

"I don't see why you have to be such an insufferable asshole to anyone you speak to! Maybe, you know, if you weren't such a dick all the time, you'd have friends who genuinely like you instead of people with shallow feelings for you and who only hang out with you for your money and popularity!"

And in that moment, not a single person in the cafeteria dared even breathe, let alone speak.

"Holy shit, Strauss, your sister's a fucking badass," Stella whispered, leaning to her right, where Lisanna was sitting, staring in shock.

Mira walked out of the cafeteria, and for a moment Stella considered recommending the vending machine as an inanimate object for her to beat up if she felt the need to do so. Perhaps she could even get some free chips out of it.

As everyone began to speak once again, Sting glanced around to make sure nobody was watching and quickly shoved almost the entire burger into his mouth at once. He collected his few pieces of trash and threw them away as he walked away from the "popular" table and towards the least intimidating person he could find, someone who not many people would consider non-intimidating, but someone he thought wouldn't give a single shit about levels of popularity, or who he was friends with.

"Hey there!" Sting greeted this person as he sat down. "I'm Sting!"

"I know."

"Oh... Cool! What's your name?"

"Rogue," he said, glancing up from his phone to meet Sting's gaze.

"I would have guessed 'hot', but whatever," Sting muttered.

"What?"

"NOTHING!" Sting yelled, laughing awkwardly. "So, what kind of music do you like?"

 

Wednesday. 3:30 PM. After school.

 

Natsu, Lucy, and Erza had all left together as usual, and were just leaving the school and talking rather loudly when something stopped them. Correction: someone.

"Erza?"

The three turned around to face a very nervous-looking Juvia, who stood with her hands clasped together.

Erza nodded at Lucy and Natsu, towards their usual route home, motioning for them to continue without her, which they did.

"What's up?" Erza asked, approaching the shorter girl.

"I... How did you do it?"

"Do what?" 

"Deal with your breakup with Gray-sama- I mean, Gray. You're the only one I know of who's been better off after dating him. So... How did you do it?"

"Well, it wasn't easy. He acts sweet to get your heart, then crushes it, and I can't say it doesn't hurt. But you just have to be strong enough to put your heart back together."

"Is that... Is that it?" 

"All that I can think of." 

Juvia took a deep breath, undoubtedly to calm herself down. "Thank you, Erza." 

"No problem."

Juvia began walking towards the parking lot, digging her keys out of her backpack.

"Oh, and Juvia?"

She turned back to face Erza.

"You deserve so much better than that asshole."

Juvia nodded, acknowledging that she'd heard Erza's statement, and as she turned back to face the parking lot, where the sun was just beginning to set and turn the world orange, she smiled.

 

_Bonus: text conversation between Juvia and Gray_

 

Juvia: _i need to talk to you tomorrow morning ._ (Sent at 3:32 PM)

 

Gray: _ok ..._ (Sent at 3:35 PM)

 

Gray: _whats this about??_ (Sent at 3:35 PM)

 

Gray: _juvia?_ (Sent at 3:50 PM) (Read at 3:55 PM)


	8. VII

Thursday. 6:30 AM. Gray's room.

 

_"And there's no guarantee, that this will be easy, it's not a miracle you need, believe me..."_

As Gray repeated slammed his hand onto his nightstand, trying to locate his phone to turn off his alarm, he muttered, "Believe _me,_ I think I will need a miracle."

He looked at the time, squinting due to his phone's brightness, and groaned loudly. _"Why couldn't it just be the weekend already?"_ He thought as he tossed his covers aside and reluctantly got out of bed.

Gray stumbled into his bathroom, leaving his phone on the counter while he took a shower. The water wasn't very warm, but he didn't mind. He preferred cooler temperatures, and the cold water helped to wake him up, which was a difficult task.

His thoughts immediately drifted to what he hadn't been able to stop thinking about all night long.

 

_Wednesday. 3:35 PM. Outside Gray's house._

_Gray got out of his car and slammed the door shut, still pissed about what Mira had said at lunch._ "Why the fuck would she say that?" _He thought as he walked across the driveway and let himself into his house._

_As he walked inside, he checked his phone for notifications he missed while driving home, and chose one in particular - a text from Juvia._

 

 _Juvia:_ i need to talk to you tomorrow morning . _(Sent at 3:32 PM)_

 

_"Fuck, I hope everything's okay. I can't have something else go wrong," he muttered, quickly typing out his response._

_Gray:_ ok ... _(Sent at 3:35 PM)_

_Gray:_ whats this about?? _(Sent at 3:35 PM)_

_He turned his phone off and slipped it into his pocket as he walked to his room. Once he got there, he tossed his backpack onto the floor and flopped down onto his bed._

_"What the actual fuck?" He asked himself. He didn't necessarily need an answer as much as he just needed to say the phrase out of sheer confusion._

_Where had the argument even come from? Sure, he and Mira had had a little tension for the past few days, but he never thought it would get this far. They'd been friends since junior high - were they really going to throw it all away just because Gray had been sort of rude to some asshole who just wasn't looking where he was going?_

_Speaking of Natsu, it dawned on Gray that he hadn't run into the pink-haired idiot that day._ "Well, that's a plus," _he thought. One positive thing in a day full of negative things._

_The mention of positives and negatives reminded Gray that he had math homework, and upon having this realization he groaned and retrieved the papers from his backpack. But throughout his attempts to do the (simple, in his opinion) Calculus work, his mind continually drifted to two topics - or, rather, two people. Juvia and her confusing text (which, after thinking about this again, he checked for a response, and upon finding none he texted once more to hopefully receive a response), and the pink-haired idiot Natsu's surprising lack of interference with his day._

 

Gray turned the shower off. _"You need to stop thinking about this,"_ he commanded himself as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Squinting at his countertop, he located his glasses laying on the edge of the sink and put them on to decrease his blindness. Without some sort of aid to his sight, he could barely see five feet in front of him. Up until sixth grade, he'd worn glasses, and before starting junior high he'd decided to get contacts, and since then had only worn his glasses at home.

Now possessing the gift of sight, he turned on his phone and went to Pandora. As he dried his hair off with another towel, _Color Blind_ by Diplo and Lil Xan began playing. He tossed the towel onto the floor and began brushing his teeth, toothpaste-muffled voice occasionally meeting lyrics he knew.

Next came the contacts. He hated putting them in, but he looked much better without glasses, so he got the fuck over it and prepared to put the first contact in his right eye. The water was turned up a bit too high, though, and the lens slipped right off his finger. He groaned and reached for another, when he noticed - that was one out of his last set.

"No," Gray whispered. "No, no no, no no!" He yelled, putting his finger into the drain to try to save the contact lens. In his panic, his elbow hit the case, knocking the other lens into the sink and down the drain as well. "Fuck!" 

Gray left his music playing and his sink running as he went back into his bedroom and quickly put on a pair of boxers before sprinting down the hallway to Stella's room. Pounding loudly on her door, he yelled, "OPEN UP, ASSHOLE!" 

Stella opened the door within seconds, smiling sweetly. She quickly looked him over and commented, "Nice bright yellow boxers, bro. Is it the new thing to wear them backwards?"

Gray glanced down and confirmed that his boxers were, in fact, bright yellow, and on backwards. "Shut up! Do you have any contacts left?"

"Nope, I wore my last pair yesterday, hence the glasses," Stella said, tapping the side of the glasses she had on. "Besides, don't you need a stronger prescription than me?"

"Shit, whatever. Thanks for nothing." Gray turned and to go back to his room, closing his eyes and sighing loudly as he walked.

"A pleasure speaking to you as always, dickhead," Stella called as she shut her door.

Suddenly, there was a plant in Gray's face, and there was a shattering noise, then he hit the ground. He stood up shakily, assessing the damage - the stupid potted plant in the corner of the hallway right between his and Stella's doorways was now not just in the corner, but spread out through the hallway. He groaned loudly and yelled, to anyone who gave a shit, "I'LL CLEAN IT UP."

Ten minutes later, and the plant, dirt, and decorative ceramic pot were all (mostly) cleaned up and deposited into the trash, and Gray was back in the shower, rinsing the dirt off. His thoughts once more drifted to both Juvia and Natsu, for their own respective reasons. "Fuck off," Gray said aloud as he turned off the shower, as if it would repel the annoying thoughts. (It didn't.)

He turned his faucet off, and his music as well (at this point, he really wasn't in the mood for music, not even any of his favorite songs) as he finished up in the bathroom, then returned to his room to get dressed. Obviously, he put on a different, non-yellow pair of boxers, along with his favorite shirt and the pair of jeans that matched best with it. He slipped on his shoes and left his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

A minute later, he returned to get his backpack and phone, both of which he had forgotten in his room.

"STELLA! HURRY THE FUCK UP!" He yelled as he kicked some remaining dirt from the plant under Stella's door and into her room.

"I'm out here, asshole," she called from the kitchen, where she was getting a bagel out of the toaster. "Hey, did you let Flash out?"

"No, I've been in my room all morning, aside from when I went to talk to you and when I had to clean up the plant, why?"

"She's not here anywhere." 

The two exchanged a look, and said, at exactly the same time, "Oh shit."

Gray dropped his backpack onto the ground, and Stella shoved the bagel into her mouth, trying to eat it quickly as they both began to search around the house for their dog, Flash.

"Hey, the door's open!" Stella shouted, but with half of a bagel in her mouth, it came out more like "Hh, thh drsh pn!"

"What the fuck?"

Stella swallowed the piece of the bagel that was in her mouth and repeated herself. "I said, 'Hey, the door's open!'" 

"Well, fuck," Gray muttered as he sprinted towards the door, getting outside right after Stella.

The two looked out over their massive backyard. Flash was a relatively small, relatively fast dog (hence the name), which meant she could be _anywhere_. Gray was already having a pretty shit day, and this definitely wasn't helping.

"Split up?" Stella asked.

Gray nodded, going to the left as Stella went to the right.

"FLASH!" He called, trying to get the dog's attention. "HERE, GIRL!" Usually she would come running, but this time, she didn't.

From the other side of the yard, Stella was shouting as well, and had thought to bring some of Flash's favorite treats outside. _"Smartass,"_ Gray thought as he continued his search. Suddenly, a very small, very cold, and very wet creature was pawing at him.

He looked down, and there was Flash, covered in mud, standing on her back legs and giving Gray a "hug" - jumping up and balancing on him with her front paws, which barely reached his waist.

Groaning loudly, Gray shouted, "I FOUND HER!" 

Stella came rushing over, and started cackling. "Shit, Gray, you're covered in mud!"

"I know," he said, gritting his teeth. "Just get her damn leash so I can wash her off, then go wash _myself_ off."

Twenty minutes later, Flash was clean and safely napping on their parents' bed, and Gray had showered for the _third_ time that day already, and had reluctantly tossed his favorite shirt into the laundry basket. As he chose his new outfit, he genuinely had lost every fuck he possibly could have given about the situation, and settled for the first clean items he could find - a plain white t-shirt, black jeans, and a hoodie he'd inevitably take off before even reaching first period. To top off his horrible fucking morning, his favorite shoes were caked with mud ( _"Thanks a lot, Flash,"_ he thought as he slipped on an old pair of Vans almost too small for him). As he slung his backpack over his shoulder, he glanced quickly in the mirror by the front door. He didn't look too terrible, and at least his glasses had the "nerd glasses" frames he'd grown attached to. Those frames were still cool, right?

"STELLA, LET'S GO- where the fuck are my keys?" He began to panic when he couldn't find his keys in their normal spot, a bowl on the kitchen counter.

Stella walked past Gray and out the door, jingling the keys to his car. "One step ahead of you as usual, asshole!"

He sighed loudly. Today _really_ wasn't his day at all.

 

Thursday. 7:55 AM. School hallway.

 

Thanks to the whole Flash debacle, Gray and Stella had almost been late, and would have been late if not for Stella's exceptional driving skills (Gray had decided to let Stella drive - he didn't want his apparently really shitty luck to get them into a fucking car crash or anything. Not that Stella's driving was much better than what he feared might happen if he drove anyway.)

As he walked down the hallway, for the first time since he'd even started high school, nobody moved out of the way. Did the glasses make him look too different? He didn't think they did, but who knows, nobody aside from Stella had seen him wear them in over six years. Maybe it was just that nobody recognized him or something. Yeah, that had to be it.

He shoved his way to his locker, and after getting his first book, he continued down the hallway, not noticing how clear it was. Usually, it was clear for him, not a warning sign for him to move the fuck out of the way, which he hadn't picked up on yet, and he ran straight into Juvia.

"Hey, Juvia," he greeted her, attempting to sling his arm over her shoulders but was blocked from doing so.

"Gray," she replied, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the nearest classroom, which was luckily empty.

"What's up? You've been acting weird lately, did I do somethi-" 

"Yes, Gray, you did something!" Juvia took a deep breath and blinked for a second longer than usual, and it was immediately clear to Gray that she was holding back tears.

"Juvia, are you okay?"

"Do you have feelings for another?"

"What? Juvia, you're acting crazy, I-" 

"Don't lie, just tell me the truth. Please, Gray, I just want to know."

"Where did you even get that idea? You're my girlfriend, I don't-" 

"I won't be your girlfriend any longer if you don't tell me the truth, Gray."

He sighed. "It's not that simple, Juvia. I don't know if I do, I don't think I do, but-" 

"It's that simple. If you have any romantic feelings at all for anyone else, which it seems that you do, it's not worth staying."

 "What? Juvia, hold up, what?"

"Goodbye, Gray. I hope she's worth it."

Juvia left the classroom, and the door shut behind her.

Sighing loudly, Gray opened the door and left as well. 

Right at that moment, he saw the one person he definitely did not want to see - Mira. For a split second, she looked right at him, then carried on without so much as a second glance. Fuck, he would have even taken a _glare_. Then he would have at least known she was mad at him.

Sting followed close behind Mira, with a dark-haired male beside him. The two were talking, non-stop, and didn't even _notice_ Gray.

 Just before the hallway filled back up, a certain pink-haired male ran through the open space, nearly running into Gray but moving out of the way at the last second. "Sorry, Gray!" Natsu called as he continued sprinting down the hallway.

Gray stared after him for a few seconds. _"What the fuck?"_ He thought for at least the millionth time that day before he continued on to his next class.

 

Thursday. 12:23 PM. Cafeteria.

 

It was official: Gray was having the worst day of his life. Sometime during second period, he'd realized he hadn't had time for breakfast that morning, what with the whole messes involving his contacts and then Flashy. So when lunch finally came around, he practically sprinted to the cafeteria, only to find the longest line he'd ever seen. It took twenty minutes for him to make it through the line, for just one small fucking slice of pizza.

Then came the matter of where to sit. He clearly couldn't sit with Mira and Sting (and whoever the fuck that other kid was), and Stella's table was already full. Maybe he could just sit in the hallway - he'd seen people sitting in the hallways to eat lunch before, so that wasn't too crazy of an idea.

But as he was weaving between students, lunch tables, and trash cans, he failed to realize that, somehow, his fucking shoelaces had come untied, and he fell. His pizza fell on the ground, and Gray followed it just seconds after. As he lay there, not having the energy or motivation to get up, he sincerely contemplated eating the pizza off the ground.

A few feet away, he heard a few voices speaking a bit differently than the others, then he noticed a pair of shoes approaching.

"Hey, are you okay?" A familiar voice asked.

He looked up to see Natsu, face painted with a worried expression, holding his hand out towards Gray. As Natsu helped him up, Gray snapped, "I'm fine."

"I get that you don't like me or whatever, but I was just trying to be nice," Natsu crossed his arms. "Sorry about your pizza, that really sucks. I haven't had any of mine yet if... You know, you'd want half of it?"

Gray peeled off his sweatshirt and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, sure, I'd really like that." As he unzipped his backpack to shove his sweatshirt in, he froze and looked over at Natsu. "Why are you being so nice to me? I've only ever been a complete dick to you. You completely have the right to be just as much of a dick to me as I was to you. What's up with that?"

Natsu shrugged. "I'm not sure, I guess I'm just nice?" He laughed and motioned to his table, where Lucy was staring at them in shock and Erza was staring very intensely at the wall to the left. "Come on!"

Gray zipped his backpack shut and followed Natsu back to the table.

Natsu sat down and dropped his backpack onto the ground so that Gray could sit beside him. "Hey, guys, Gray's gonna sit here with us, if that's okay!" 

Erza stood silently and left, taking her backpack and remaining food with her.

"Hey, I'm Lucy! Sorry about Erza, she can be like that sometimes," Lucy laughed it off. 

"Yeah, I know," Gray replied, still in shock from how sweet Natsu and Lucy were being. 

"Here you go, you can have the cheesier half," Natsu held out the piece of pizza to Gray. "Unless you like the crust more? Then we can definitely switch, whichever one you want is fine!" 

"That piece is fine," Gray took the piece Natsu offered him. "Thanks." 

"Hey, no problem!" Natsu grinned, biting into his own piece. 

"Want some of my chips?" Lucy offered, sliding her small, half-empty bag of chips over to Gray. "You can have the rest if you want, I'm kinda full." 

"You guys are being so nice..." Gray commented after swallowing the first bite of his pizza. "Thanks."

"It's nothing, don't worry about it!" Lucy smiled. 

"Yeah, really!" Natsu continued to bear his signature bright smile.

And for the first time that day, Gray genuinely smiled.

 

Thursday. 3:03 PM. After school.

 

"I can't believe we had the same history class this whole year and didn't even notice," Gray laughed as he walked out of the building, right beside Natsu. 

"Right?" Natsu laughed along with him. "Hey, can I try on your glasses?"

"Sure, but I can't really see without them-"

Natsu pulled the glasses off of Gray's face and put them on. "Woah, everything's so blurry!" He exclaimed. "So, where can you see stuff?" 

"What?" Gray squinted to see Natsu, who was looking around with the glasses on.

"You know, like, can you see better when something's really close or really far away?"

"Oh. I can see better close up, but it has to be within, like, five feet."

Natsu pushed Gray's glasses up onto his head in order to distance himself about five feet away from Gray.

"Can you see me?"

"Barely. You're a pink-haired blur from here."

Natsu took a few steps closer. "Can you see me now?"

"A little better. Can I have my glasses back?"

"In a minute. Can you see me now?" Natsu asked after a few more steps.

"You're still really blurry, but I can tell your hair apart from your body now."

"How about now?"

"Still blurry, Natsu. If you give me my glasses back, I'll be able to see you perfectly." There was definitely a growl bacting up his voice.

"How about now?" 

"Nope." 

Natsu stood nose-to-nose with Gray, not even half a foot separating them. "Woah, now I can barely see _you!"_

He laughed, removing the glasses and handing them back to a vaguely annoyed but now very grateful Gray, who began to blush upon putting the glasses back on. Natsu was way closer than he thought he had been. Shit, he really _was_ blind.

Lucy approached the two. "Hey, Natsu, I'm gonna walk with Erza, she's still pretty pissed. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya, Lucy!" Natsu waved at the blonde as she ran back to Erza.

"You walk home?" Gray asked, adjusting his glasses.

"I don't have a car, which means I don't have much of a choice, either. But it's only, like, twenty minutes away, and I usually walk with Lucy and Erza, so it's not that bad." As he said their names, Natsu glanced over at the two. Lucy took notice of Natsu and mouthed something to him and made a motion that looked as if she were eating chips, and Natsu tilted his head in confusion. Lucy rolled her eyes and texted Natsu.

 

Lucy: _tell him about how many chips u can fit in ur mouth!! ;)_ (Sent at 3:05 PM)

 

Natsu looked up from his phone to see a hysterically laughing Lucy, and he texted back immediately.

 

Natsu: _FUCK OFF_ (Sent at 3:05 PM)

 

Lucy looked down to read the text, and when she looked back at Natsu, he flipped her off, causing her to laugh even more.

"What was that about?" Gray asked, having watched the entire interaction.

"Oh, nothing," Natsu brushed it off.

"Okay... Well, I was going to say, I could drive you home, if you wa-"

"Really?" Natsu asked loudly.

"Yeah, as long as you don't mind my sister being in the car too."

"That's fine! Let's go!"

"As soon as we find my sister-"

"Looking for me, dickhead?" Stella asked, leaning her arm on Gray's shoulder.

"Where the fuck- You know what, never mind. Let's just go," Gray rolled his eyes. "Natsu, you mind sitting in the back?"

"What? You'd make your new friend sit in the back?" Stella frowned at Gray. "That's not very swag money of you, Gray."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Gray stared in confusion at her.

"Natsu, I'll sit in the back," Stella smiled.

"Thanks! Stella, right?" Natsu asked.

"You got it!"

The three of them got into the car, Gray and Natsu in the front and Stella in the back, her feet resting on the center console and her phone in her hands.

"Want some music?" Gray asked. "I can put on Pandora, if you want." 

"Sure, mind if I look through your stations?" 

"Sure," Gray unlocked his phone and passed it to Natsu, who immediately began scrolling. 

"Hey, you like The Cab too?" Natsu stared up at Gray in surprise.

"Hell yeah!" Gray smiled. "Let's listen to that, then."

Natsu chose The Cab's station and handed Gray's phone back. 

"Aw, look at you two," Stella cooed. "Besties already." 

"Fuck off," Gray said, starting the car as _Angel With a Shotgun_ started playing. He turned the volume up, hopefully drowning out any more of Stella's comments. "Which way are we going?"

"Oh, right down this street," Natsu directed, subconsciously leaning closer to Gray as he pointed at the street.

Gray nodded, and began humming along to the song. Within seconds, Natsu was humming as well, and Stella was getting as many pictures as she could of these two nerds.

 

Thursday. 3:30 PM. Outside Natsu's apartment building.

 

Natsu opened the car door and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Hey, thanks for driving me!"

"Thanks for giving me half your pizza after mine went flying," Gray laughed. "Hey, can I see your phone for a second?" 

Natsu got his phone from his pocket and tossed it to Gray, who immediately handed it back. "Password?"

"Right!" Natsu laughed.

Gray quickly added his number as a contact and set his ringtone to the first song he found on Natsu's phone by The Cab. "Call me - or text me, whichever one, whenever you want. See you tomorrow?" 

"Definitely! See ya, Gray!" Natsu shut the door and walked into his building, smiling the whole way.

Before he put his phone away, he texted Gray.

 

Natsu: _it was fun sitting with u at lunch today, btw u should wear ur glasses more, they look great!!_ (Sent at 3:31 PM)

 

Natsu: _also_ _whisper_ _war_ _is_ _better_ _than_ _symphony_ _soldiee_ (Sent at 3:31 PM)

 

Natsu: _soldier_ (Sent at 3:31 PM)

 

Natsu: _fuck_ (Sent at 3:32 PM)

 

Bonus: text conversation between Natsu and Lucy

 

Lucy: _boi he so likes u_ (Sent at 4:15 PM)

 

Natsu: _how tf would u know??????_ (Sent at 4:15 PM)

 

Lucy: _*breathes in* b o i_ (Sent at 4:15 PM)

 

Natsu: _thats not an answer lucy_ (Sent at 4:15 PM)

 

Lucy: _thats not the point the point is he totally likes u_ (Sent at 4:16 PM)

 

Lucy: _also!! did u tell him how many chips u can fit in ur mouth_ (Sent at 4:16 PM)

 

Natsu: _no?? why tf would i???_ (Sent at 4:16 PM)

 

Lucy: _because he totally likes u_ (Sent at 4:16 PM)

 

Natsu: _FUCK OFF_ (Sent at 4:16 PM)


	9. VIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠︎CONTENT WARNING⚠︎
> 
> > references to **underage drinking** and **mental illness**  
>  > use of **_homophobic slurs_**

Friday. 12:22 PM. Cafeteria.

 

The first half of Friday was, by far, better than the first half of Thursday had been. At least, in Gray's opinion.

 

_Friday. 7:10 AM. Gray's room._

_Gray awoke to silence. Peaceful, calm, silence that wasn't filled with the nightmare that the Stargaze ringtone had become for him ever since choosing it as his alarm tone. But if his room was silent..._

_"Shit!" Gray yelled, shoving his covers off and doing his best not to fall onto the floor as he jumped out of bed. He'd overslept - by forty minutes. Guess he wasn't gonna make his zero period today._

_As he rushed through what was probably the shortest shower he'd ever taken in his life, he knew that oversleeping was a consequence of staying up until two in the morning texting Natsu. When he had finally gone to sleep, he knew he would be tired in the morning, but even now, as he got out of the shower, he didn't deny it had been worth it._

_Once he'd finished getting ready, and had just adjusted his glasses, he heard a knock at his door._

_"Hey, asshole, I got more contacts yesterday if you want to use some," Stella shouted. "I know it's not the prescription you need, but still-"_

_"While I greatly appreciate the gesture, Queen Asshole," Gray responded, opening the door to talk to her. "I don't need them."_

_"Oh, so your boyfriend finally convinced you to wear glasses again?" Stella smirked._

_"Fuck off, he's not my boyfriend!" Gray yelled as he slammed the door shut._

_"Whatever you say, dickhead!"_

_Gray took one last look in the mirror that hung on the wall beside his closet. He adjusted the front of his shirt slightly before picking up his backpack and heading out to the kitchen._

_"Yo, I saved you the last bagel," Stella announced. "Now hurry the fuck up!"_

_As Stella bit into one of the two pop-tarts she held, Gray got the remaining bagel out and popped it into the toaster. He leaned back against the counter, backpack dropping to the floor beside him._

_"So," Stella swirled around in one of the stools at the counter island, her mouth still full of the blueberry pop-tart she was eating. "You're friends with Natsu now."_

_"No shit, Sherlock, how'd you figure that one out?"_

_"I'm just saying. It seems like you guys are pretty close for just being friends for half of a day."_

_"Do you have a point?"_

_"Remember how quickly you and Lyon became friends?"_

_"Let me rephrase. Do you want to walk to school?"_

_"Fine, I'll leave you and your bagel alone," Stella shrugged, hopping off the stool to go pet Flash, who was laying by the front door. "But just so you know, we're out of cream cheese."_

_"Fuck you."_

_“Love you too!"_

 

And as Gray approached his new friends at their table, he knew the rest of the day would be even better.

He noticed that Erza hadn't even bothered to show up. It was his fault, of course - he knew full well what he'd done, and even though he'd regretted it since it happened and had attempted to apologize countless times, he'd been a complete dick, and knew how much he deserved this treatment from her.

"Hey, Gray!" Natsu exclaimed, then giggled. "That rhymed!"

"So it did," Gray laughed along with him as he sat down on one of the benches at their table. It was weird for him, sitting at a different table - for three years, he'd sat at the same table, and to be sitting _here_ , with his new friends, and referring to it as partially _his_ table... Wanting to avoid an existential crisis, Gray decided to test out Natsu's lifestyle and not think about anything for once.

Meanwhile, the new and somewhat improved populars sat opposite the table where Gray attempted blindly throw weak punches at Natsu, who wore the ex-royal's glasses and was doing what seemed to be a dorky but accurate Gray impression.

"Hey, you good, Juvia?" Cana asked, drawing her attention.

"Oh... Yes, I'm okay." Juvia shifted her gaze up from her phone, where she had her iMessage conversation with Gray open. There had been no messages since Wednesday, and she doubted there'd be any in the foreseeable future, yet she still found herself staring aimlessly at the blue and grey text bubbles until her vision blurred and her eyes began to water (although, with Juvia, "eyes watering" meant an anime-esque race of tears spilling from her deep blue eyes).

"The hell you are. Come on, girl, you _know_ you're better than this! You knew when you dumped his sorry ass and you know now," Cana massaged Juvia's upper arms. "At least, you know it in your heart. And you have such a big heart, babe, you have so much love and so much trouble finding the right guy to give it to. Or girl," she winked. Upon noticing Juvia's stare of confusion, she laughed, patting the shorter girl's shoulder. "Alright, let's calm you down. Breeeaaathe, sweetie. Big breath in, big breath out. You got this."

The two took a couple breaths in unison, and maybe it was more than just the deep breathing that drew Juvia's gaze to her friend's chest. Maybe.

"Thank you, Cana... I think I need some time by myself."

"Alright, girly. Before ya get outta here, though..." Before Juvia could react, she'd snatched her phone, fingers topped with chewed nails tapped at the screen at light speed, then passed the phone back. "There. No more Gray-sama. Chat's still there, but his number isn't. It's for the best, Juju. Promise."

Juvia flashed her a smile, however false it may have been, before heading for her private place - the historical fiction shelf in the school library. She'd picked this place not because she liked historical fiction - no, that was merely an afterthought, a taste she'd picked up after many hours in this neck of the woods. She'd picked it because of how rarely anyone else ventured past her. She needed somewhere that she wouldn't be found, and on mere irony alone she managed to find some gems no one else would find either.

Book bag slumped on the ground beside her, knees pulled up to her chest, Juvia kept her breaths as silent as she count as tears spilled from her crystalline eyes.

 _Gray-sama doesn't love me. He... never loved me,_ she thought. A line of thought not unfamiliar to her slipped past the chemical guards meant to protect her, not let this shit destroy her again. _Perhaps... perhaps I would be better off if he hadn't found me that night._

"You look like you could use some company."

Juvia's gaze landed on the redhead resting on one knee beside her, and for a moment the demons' voices in her head faded. "My knight in shining armor," she said, smiling weakly. "Misery does love company."

Erza tucked her leg to the side and sat criss-cross beside her old friend. "Nice spot for a hideaway," she noted, running her long, graceful fingers across the spines of a couple books. "It's not somewhere most people would look."

"Erza-chan, how did you learn to cope with your... separation, from Gray?" Juvia bit her tongue to keep the royal honorific from attaching itself to his name.

"This again?" Erza chuckled. "You asked me the same thing just a couple days ago." 

"Yes, but I... seem to be having more trouble than anticipated."

Erza sighed. "Look, Juvia, the truth? I never learned to deal with it, or 'cope', or whatever." 

"But you seem so-"

"That's just it. I only seem to be dealing. The day he did what he did, I isolated myself. I spent hours crying my damn eyes out. There was a whole week like that. I feigned sick so I could stay home, where I wouldn't have to see him. I had to go back the next week, but I spent every waking moment in empty hallways and bathrooms. I learned how to evade both the pain and the school security officers. After that, I closed myself off. And I never got an apology, either – until a couple days ago, I guess. But I refuse to give him the time of day 'till I know I can handle it." She leaned back against the bookshelf, taking a couple moments to slow her heartbeat, the sheer pain pulsing through her veins. "Juvia, don't do what I did. It just makes it worse. Don't shut everyone out, don't wait for some transfer student and her bio partner to break you out of the armor you build. I know we haven't talked since elementary school, but I know how big your heart is. If anyone can forgive that jackass, it's you. You don't have to be okay with what he did. You just have to learn to be okay with the fact that it happened."

"I... I think I can do that. Thank you, Erza-chan, truly."

In that moment, Erza remembered why she was drawn to Juvia. The first day of elementary school, she met a transfer student from Japan with a smile brighter than any star.

The rays of sunlight that broke through the gaps in the bookshelf in front of them still couldn't match the radiance of Juvia's smile.

 

 

Friday. 2:15 PM. AP Physics class.

 

"Saw you with your new _boyfriend_ today."

For the first time in his life, Gray didn't spit back at him with a biting comeback. "Not my boyfriend," he muttered, still digging through the bin of rulers to find the metal ruler he always used. The only good ruler, if we're being honest. Yeah, the numbers were a little faded, and maybe you couldn't see all the lines, but it was the one Gray had ended up using all year, and he didn't plan on breaking routine any time soon. Not that he hadn't already done that with the rest of his life.

"Hard to believe, 'specially after the way everyone saw you two cuddling up together at lunch, practically in each others' laps. I still remember when that was _us_ , you know," Lyon leaned up against the counter, pursing his lips to blow a white bubble with his gum. "Before you told me I was such a shitty boyfriend I turned you off guys forever, that is. You know, maybe you _would_ think you're just friends with that off-his-meds ADD kid, you did spend half our relationship thinking it was just platonic."

"I told you, he's not my boyfriend, so don't shit on him to get a rise outta me, cause it's not happening." Gray still refused to make eye contact.

"Daayum, Fullbuster, someone's got you whipped as hell. I'd say it's that obviously-a-natural-brunette flamer, but since I turned you straight, I'mma guess it's that blonde chick you hang with at lunch. Ya know, the _old_ Gray woulda shot back with somethin' that'd be censored even in a porno," Lyon blew and popped another bubble whiter than his hair as he hopped up to sit on the counter, swinging boots threatening to hit any unfortunate passerby.

Giving up on the search for his favorite ruler, Gray finally stared down his ex through the thick rims of his glasses. "What the hell is your problem, Lyon?"

" _You're_ my problem, Gray. You used me to climb the social ladder - hell, even _buying_ your way up there woulda been easier on us both - then dumped me like a _bitch_ to screw my sister.” 

"Is that what this is about? Ultear, really? Lyon, I never did anything with her." 

"Oh, how wondrous to hear my name escape thine lush lips - oh, Lyon!" He bucked his hips, mimicking the sounds Gray made years before with him in private moments. Upon seeing the shellshocked expression that marred the face that had grown past him, Lyon laughed, a bittersweet type of chuckle. "You really don't remember, do you? I mean, I'm not surprised, you were drunk off your ass that night." He hopped off the counter, blowing and popping yet another bubble, spreading his lips just the way he used to back when...

"I don't know what you're talking abou–"

"Ugh, just save whatever excuse you're about to pull outta your ass for that pink-haired faggot. I don't need to hear it."

"Dude, what the hell? You don't even _know_ him and you're already resorting to calling him shit like that? I thought you were above this."

" _Dude_ , I'm gay, I can say that shit. And clearly I'm not above it, 'specially cause of how many times I've been under you, or did your _special_ _night_ with Ultear make you... what, 'conveniently forget' our many nights of passion?" Lyon rolled his eyes as the bell rang, blowing another bubble with his gum.

Gray brushed past him, pencil puncturing the perfect bubble with an ever-satisfying pop as Lyon returned to his desk, sitting with his lab partner, Sherry.

"I got his ruler."

"What?"

"His ruler. You know, the one he-who-must-not-be-named always uses like he's some sort of OCD freak."

"Sherry, not to be a dick, but why the hell do I care?" 

"I don't know, I guess he's gonna be kinda upset, 'cause he doesn't have his ruler, or whatever..." the comment trailed off, and as per usual Sherry turned to another topic Lyon had zoned too far out to hear.

He only snapped back to reality when his pencil also snapped. _Damn_ , he thought. That had been his last pencil. Guess he'd have to finish the lab in pen.

 

Friday. 3:28 PM. Parking lot.

 

The sun approached the horizon as Cana slung her bag across her shoulders, tightening the strap as she revved the engine of her motorcycle. The helmet hung around her neck, but before she could leave a voice called out.

"YO, CANA!" Stella shouted, jogging across the parking lot to meet her.

"'Sup, baby Fullbuster?" She smirked, shifting her hips to rest on the seat. "Don't tell me you want a ride home. I didn't bring my "femme-girlfriend" helmet today, so you'd have ta pass as straight."

"Ha, ha, very funny. Unlike my brother, I actually like all the girls I ride with." Still catching her breath, Stella paused. "I was gonna say, though, you and a certain fan of blue hair dye looked pretty friendly today at lunch."

"Babe, please, that's how I am with all girls. See? I'm calling my friend's baby sister 'babe'." She rolled her eyes. "God, Stel, stop wiggling your eyebrows, I'm fairly fuckin' sure Juvia's straight anyway."

"Aha! So you've though about it!” 

"No shit, Sherlock. Girl's got a huge heart - and her chest isn't that too bad either." 

"Oh, yeah, speaking of boobs, she was totally staring at yours today. Maybe she's not as straight as you think."

"Yeah, right. Now get outta here, Cupid, I got things to see, people to do."

Stella laughed. "See ya, Cana."

"Later, skater," she said, helmet muffling her voice as she called out to the girl hopping into the backseat of her brother's car beside Lucy. She sped out of the parking lot, tires streaking the hot asphalt under the reign of the setting sun.

 

Bonus: text conversation between Gray and 861-XXX-XXXX

 

Gray: _hey, Juvia, you probably don't want to talk to me so I'll make this quick_ (Sent at 5:20 PM)

Gray: _I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being such an insufferable dick. You're a great girl, you don't deserve that._ (Sent at 5:21 PM)

Gray: _juvia, you there?_ (Sent at 5:23 PM)

Gray: _Juvia?_ (Sent at 5:25 PM)

**> Missed call to 861-XXX-XXXX at 5:25 PM**

Gray: _got it. goodbye, juvia._ (Message failed to deliver - 5:28 PM)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me two years please clap


	10. IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **content warning: minor nsfw**

Sunday. 11:28 AM. Gray's room.

 

He couldn't stop staring at Natsu's smile.

Like a blinding light shining through the darkness, the boy's radiant smile was all he could focus on no matter what he did, no matter how his lips moved. Natsu spoke but Gray didn't hear a thing, his gaze never strayed from the sweet smile, from the joy the other male held on his face. He couldn't read lips, so he couldn't tell what Natsu was saying, but he figured he didn't need to. He just followed the movements of his lips, until said lips were wrapped around his—

Gray noticed an annoying buzzing sound. Natsu didn't. Gray looked up for a moment and everything was gone. He opened his eyes to see the familiar scene of his bedroom, on the first floor but still high above the city. Based on the vague, earthy scent present, Stella was pretty high above the city as well. Or maybe he had been last night. That might explain the dream.

At least the dream could explain the _other_ thing that was up pretty high.

Gray sighed, yanking his phone off its charger and turning the alarm off. Great, eleven thirty. Another lazy Sunday.

While wanted nothing more than to stay in his dream with Natsu, the sunlight and glaring phone screen had roused him beyond the point of no return.. But at least he didn't have to go back to the real world today, with Lyon, his parents, Juvia, Mira– oh, _god_ , not Mira's anger, she already chewed him out in the cafeteria the other day. Fuck if he wanted to go through that again. He just wanted to stay in a dream where he wasn't real, and neither was Natsu, but maybe the _something_ between them was.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would go back to the real world. But today, he was going to sleep.

His head hit the pillow, and _just_ as he was thinking he could go back to his dream, maybe keep it going till he'd have to wash his sheets, he felt the familiar bass-heavy music Stella loved brushing through his bones.

Gray sighed once more. He threw his covers aside and got up, feet pounding against the floor carelessly until he got to his sister's door and banged on it loud enough to be heard over the music.

"Yes, brother dearest?" She greeted him, a dazzling grin marring her face.

Gray thought back to his dream, and made sure his lower half was hidden by the mostly-closed door. "Ever heard of being fucking quiet?"

"Kw... kwa... yet? Never heard of it, sorry," Stella presented her best shit-eating grin. Gray wished she would actually eat shit. Maybe it would knock her down a peg or two.

"Fuck you too." He trudged back down the hall, silently grateful for Stella's music just minutes later while standing in the shower. He didn't necessarily need the shower, but one could say that other circumstances called for it. The steam and hot water made for a nice stand-in of his new friend with an irregularly high body temperature he claimed was normal. The lyrics and bass beats covered for the sighs and moans Gray would likely never admit had escaped his throat as he stood anime-style (one hand on the wall, head down as water ran over his body. Classic glamour shot.) and jerked himself off, pretending his hand, hot from the water, could possibly be Natsu's.

A very disappointing couple minutes later, Gray sat in the kitchen, spoon twirling aimlessly about the bowl of soggy cereal that say in front of him. Even the usually very active Flash lay on the rug in front of the back door, dazed by the sun's warm rays.

Welcome to a lazy weekend.

 

Sunday. 12:51 AM. The Fullbusters' living room.

 

It hadn't been very long since Gray had plopped down on the couch, game controller in his hand and blanket draped across his lap despite the heat provided by the last breaths of summer.

Ten minutes had passed. He went from cross-legged to obnoxiously manspreading.

Five minutes, slumped against the back of the couch.

Another ten minutes, he was completely horizontal, just mashing buttons aimlessly at this point. And then his phone buzzed.

 

Natsu: _hey icey boy!_ (Sent at 1:03 PM)

 

Natsu: _like your PSN! cause I sW you're online! Wanna play a round of OW??_ (Sent at 1:03 PM)

 

Gray's face betrayed his true feelings as a smile crept its way across his face.

 

Gray: _wow, u really wanna lose to me again don't u?_ (Sent at 1:04 PM)

 

Natsu: _shut up I would've won if i wasn't on a team with a bunch of 12 y/os_ 😤😤 (Sent at 1:04 PM)

 

Natsu: _speaking of 12 year olds ur actually gonna be playing my cousin! she's over today while the aunt n uncle do "grown up stuff"_ (Sent at 1:04)

 

Natsu: _they're drug dealers not weirdos kicking their daughter out to have afternoon sex_ (Sent at 1:05)

 

Natsu: _just so u know_ (Sent at 1:05)

 

Gray didn't respond to the influx of texts. He loaded up the game and sent out an invite to _dr4g0nsl4y3rr_ , and for shits and giggles on this lazy Sunday he invited Sting (under the username _SABERTO0TH_ ), who showed up within moments as Tracer, followed quickly by _Ryos_shadow_ , who switched rapidly between Hanzo and Genji until a couple seconds before the game began.

 

Natsu: _aorry, lag lol we're in now. I didn't know you knew rogue!!_ (Sent at 1:07 PM)

 

Sure enough, Natsu's username appeared below the silhouette of D.Va. When the game started, a young girl's voice rang out, wishing everybody luck.

 

Sting: _who's the kid lol ro says thats pinky dragneel's psn_ (Sent at 1:08 PM)

 

Gray sighed, stretching from his spot on the couch to grab his buzzing phone. He gave up when he had to brace himself with his hand on the ground and just turned on his voice chat.

"'Sup, guys, that's Natsu's cousin."

"Yep! I'm Wendy, nice to meet ya!"

"...Hi."

Gray made a mental note to text Sting after the game to have a stern "talk" about what seemed to be his newest boy toy, who everybody seemed to know but Gray.

 

Sunday. 3:58 PM. The Fullbusters' living room.

 

A couple rounds of capture the flag later, Gray had left the game. He had flipped on Netflix, turned on that new show Russian Doll — you know, the one with Nicky from Orange is the New Black — and, apparently, passed out on the couch in a puddle of his own drool.

The TV had drowned out Stella's music, or maybe the music had drowned out the TV. One way or another, Gray was lulled to sleep, and just as quickly, he was pulled out of it.

A text caused his phone on the edge of the table to vibrate and fall off, hitting the floor with a pronounced _thunk_. He groaned, awake once more. Unfortunate. He wasn't that upset, though — he'd managed to waste about an hour, and it's not like this time he'd been dreaming about a certain boy's mouth.

God damn it, his _problem_ from that morning was back.

He checked his phone, which held two messages for him, both from the boy in question.

 

Natsu: _hey are you free?_ (Sent at 3:59 PM)

 

Natsu: _meet me in the park asap_ (Sent at 4:00 PM)

 

_Well, fuck._

 

Sunday. 4:15 PM. Magnolia Park.

 

Gray was, by some miracle, wearing a shirt, the cleanliness of which was highly debatable. That could go for his entire person, if we're being honest. Still in his sweatpants, he had run to the park, and definitely wasn't wearing deodorant. His breath smelled strongly of coffee. He wasn't sure he brushed his teeth today. Or last night.

Just as the level of self-consciousness he was experiencing was about to hit him, he was also about to hit the very person who was causing the nerves.

"Woah, Gray, did you.. _run_ here?" Natsu asked, a bit concerned for the taller boy, who was out of breath, despite being relatively fit and athletic. "Relatively" may have been an understatement, Natsu realized, as he scanned his friend top to bottom a little more thoroughly than he probably should have.

"Uh, yeah, I thought it was some kinda emergency! You _did_ just text me to, and I quote, 'meet you in the park, asap'."

"Yeah, but after I asked if you were free! I wouldn't ask if you were free if I was having an emergency, popsicle-brain!"

"It's still a worrying text, Natsu! Especially for someone who was sleeping!"

Their bickering went on, nothing more than a friendly squabble between friends. Ah, yes, friends. Just a couple of dudes being guys. Guys being dudes. Dudes being gay— wait, no.

Gray cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said, not sure exactly what he was apologizing for. "So, what's up?"

"Well, Wendy went home - I don't like her living there, but  hey, it's my own aunt and uncle. What can I do, they raised me, y'know? So, yeah, Wendy went home, and I was bored. Plus I like you."

That last phrase was what sent a blush flaring across their faces in unison. Then Natsu started babbling.

"I mean, like, you're cool! Cool person to be around! I like, that you're cool. Cool. Yeah."

The two were walking. Not in any particular direction, or towards any particular goal, just following the path through the impending sunset.

After the air managed to clear itself, Natsu, who had never met embarrassment, cut through the silence. "So, yeah, if it was an emergency, I would've texted 911. Like, said that to you. In a text. The numbers. Nine, one, o-"

"Yeah, no, I get that now. Thanks."

Awkward silence found its way to them once more, hanging like a shadow over their heads.

Walking beside one another, Gray noticed, brought many opportunities for knuckles to brush, backs of hands to clash. He pretended not to notice the sparks and Natsu pretended not to notice the pink sweep across his face every time it happened. Or maybe he actually didn't notice. He was pretty unobservant, after all—

"Dango!"

Or not.

Without so much as a split second warning, Natsu's long fingers were curled around Gray's wrist, tugging him along towards the food vendor selling the sweet dumplings. That boy could pick out a single piece of candy in a trash compactor by scent alone, Gray could swear.

By the time his heart had managed to get back into his chest, Natsu was already mid-order.

"...and an iced green tea! Whaddya want, Gray?" Natsu nudged his friend.

"Uh, same thing." Natsu's taste in Overwatch characters was pretty good, here was hoping his taste in food was, too.

"Alright, your order will be up in a couple minutes! Can I get a name, please?" The girl behind the counter asked with a smile.

"Uh, Gray– how much?" He asked, and began searching his pockets for his wallet to pull out one of his cards, but was quickly stopped.

"No charge! Sunday afternoons are free for couples!"

"But we're not—"

"Ahaha, thank you! Come on, _honey_ , let's sit down," Natsu waved at her, draping his arm over Gray's shoulders and leading him to a table.

"Natsu, we didn't pay."

"Free food, man! Are you _really_ gonna make me turn down free food?" Natsu shot him a look.

"Yeah, I guess not."

As Gray settled into the chair, conversation started back up, and it was just before their order was called that he glanced at Natsu's hand, just lying on the table, and felt the urge to lace their fingers together, to feel his palm warm against his own.

Then he heard his name called, and decided never to think about that urge ever again.

Some sweet treats, sweet tea, and sweet smiles later, the two disposed of their napkins and plastic cups and began to walk the paths again. They came upon a park bench, and Gray sat, but Natsu kept moving. He sprinted from location to location, phone at the ready to photograph any little detail he saw. Gray just watched, eyes flitting about at top speed to match Natsu's movements. The world around them finally came to a stop when Natsu was crouched behind him, capturing the rusted edge of the bench. He slipped his phone into his pocket, resting his arms on the back of the bench and dropping to his knees.

The sun shining behind him created a halo around the tips of his pink hair. His brown eyes were dark in contrast, little personal voids amidst a face that seemed to glow all on its own.

Gray, half-turned so he could watch Natsu's photo shoot, felt a current surge through him, like a magnet drawn to another, opposing polarities coming together as he could feel himself leaning closer to the pink haired boy. If he looked closely, he almost thought he could see Natsu leaning in as well, the sun shifting behind him.

His heart raced. Lazy Sunday, his ass. This made up for any cardiovascular activity the dumb muscle in his chest had missed out on today.

Then Natsu's phone buzzed.

 

Bonus: text conversation between Natsu and Lucy

Lucy: _911_ (Sent at 4:41 PM)


	11. X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **content warnings — drug use, non-detailed repeated mentions of r*pe, technically "legal" but still sketchy encounters with slimy old rich dudes in the form of prostitution, slightly less gross nsfw, suicidal ideation**

Monday. 11:03 am. Gray's bedroom.

 

Gray stared up at the ceiling. The midday light that glimmered through the window in his bathroom gave him a weird feeling. Not _weird_ , just... nostalgic, perhaps. It reminded him of days in childhood, running around the poolside, Stella chasing him with a Nerf gun, parents watching lovingly from the wayside. Maybe the weird feeling was because he knew he could never go back to these days.

He sighed. He pressed the button on the pen he held to his lips, drawing in a breath for much longer than he should have. The following exhale went slowly, allowing smoke to pool in the air around them. Music played from a speaker on Gray's desk, but it couldn't've sounded further away.

 

_“Baby, won't you come on by?_

_No surprise, you know I wanna change your life,_

_Baby, I just need one night,_

_Get a taste of paradise, things will fall in line."_

The faucet in Gray's bathroom turned off, and after wringing his hands a bit, Natsu joined Gray in lying down, hopping up onto the bed so that his head would rest on the same end as Gray's feet.

Gray thought about the catastrophic damage this would inevitably cause in his mind. He _just_ did laundry on Saturday, but it was whatever, he guessed. Whatever. He took another, smaller hit from the pen.

As he blew smoke again, he offered Natsu the pen, and decided not to think about how their hands touched in the handoff, and how, the next time he smoked off this pen, and every time after that, he'd be using something that had touched Natsu's lips.

"So," he said, not thinking about the aforementioned things, "what was that text about yesterday?"

"Oh, man, it was crazy," Natsu said, not exactly slurring his words, but definitely lacking the usual energy one typically associates with him.

 

_Sunday. 8:11 pm. Lucy's fire escape._

 

_The trio sat in silence. Lucy's legs hung over the edge of the fire escape, undoubtedly cold left bare in the night air as she stared out into the darkness. Erza balanced precariously on the railing, facing the opposite direction as Lucy. Natsu picked at pills and cat fur on his scarf, as if doing so would lessen the tension that had built lately._

_"Ashley's coming home."_

_"Woah, already? Has it really been a year?" Natsu sat up straight, cross-legged but now ready for action._

_Lucy shook her head. "She's out early. I mean, I'm proud of her, y'know? Kept her head down, stayed under the radar..."_

_"Completely unlike her." Erza spoke._

_"Yeah."_

_After a little more of that super fun, awkward silence, Natsu asked, "What was she in for again?"_

_"Possession of drugs and underage drinking, I believe."_

_Lucy sighed. "That's... not completely true." When the two didn't speak, she continued. "She was only charged with that after pleading insanity. She's really in for attempted murder."_

_"She's what the fuck now?" Erza hopped from the railing, sitting down beside Lucy._

_"She..." Lucy bit at the inside of her cheek. "Guys, swear you won't tell."_

_"'F course, Luce, who would we tell?"_

_Erza shot him a look that undoubtedly meant, Gray, he would tell Gray. "We won't tell anyone," she said._

_"Nine months ago, Ashley walked into our room at- at the old house, while..." She sniffled, and it was then that the two realized she was crying. Erza, sat beside her, could barely make out in the dim light streaks down her face, mascara smudged beneath her eyes and concealer being washed away. "While someone was..."_

_"Someone was what?" Natsu asked, promptly followed with a cry as Erza threw one of her shoes at him._

_Lucy was staring down at the spot between her legs. That was all Erza needed to know what had happened. She shuffled up beside her friend, arms outstretched in case of a hug deficiency. Lucy leaned into her touch, breaths catching in her throat._

_"She- she saw what he was doing, and she at-tacked him, and, and. She can't come back, she can't come back, it's not safe for her, she can't come back, she can't," Lucy stammered. Erza would later find streaks of black on her shirt, but wouldn't care. Natsu crawled across the fire escape to join the cuddle pile, and for just a moment, it was only the three of them that existed._

_After she calmed down, Lucy laid back with her head in Ezra's lap, Natsu's hands woven into her hair as he made attempt after attempt at braiding her golden locks._

_"When Ashley saw what he was doing to me, she hit him over the head with one of the trophies we used to keep in our room. Next thing I knew, she had a knife out, lining up with his crotch, and I pulled her off and collapsed. Everything gets fuzzy for me again right about there but, but she was fine. The trophy was broken. She reached under her mattress and pulled out a bag of pills. She said, Lucy, look at me, I haven't been taking my meds. But she had, I knew she had, I watched her take them every night before bed. She said it again, she said she hadn't been taken them, instead hiding them under the bed and she was gonna flush them. I was supposed to say I knew she was off her meds 'cause I saw her flush them. They looked just like her clozapine. So that's what I said when the cops came to arrest her. They had to rip her away from me. They took her away from me. They took my only protector away from me."_

_Lucy had started hyperventilating, and Erza just stroked her hair, reminding her to breathe properly._

_"Alright, I'm all fired up now, who was this dude, Luce? I'ma kick his ass for doing that to you."_

_"Natsu, it's... it was my dad."_

Natsu let out a cloud of smoke followed by a deep sigh, the kind that ends in a cough, the kind that rattles so deep in your chest you feel it in your soul. "I don't wanna get into it," he said, swapping the pen back to Gray. "Besides, not my story to tell."

 

_Last August. 10:28 pm. The penthouse suite of the Four Seasons, Midtown Manhattan._

 

 _It might not have been the iconic Times Square shining far below, but a full 360 of the city made Gray do more than just a double take. Yes, he was used to luxury, but he was used to luxury_ alone. _New York's arguably most stunning penthouse was filled with guests invited by none other than Mr. Silver Fullbuster, CEO, enigma, absentee father. Gray knew why he was here. No, not for Gray's once-in-a-lifetime eighteenth birthday — rather, for his now-legal-to-potential-business-partners ass. Or dick, we don't know what these sketchy rich dudes prefer. Fifteen minutes alone in a bathroom with the son of one of the world's greatest businessmen could make or break a multimillion-dollar deal for Silver. The "or break" part was out of the question, though. It wasn't that Gray feared physical backlash from his father; no. Gray got nothing from his dad but money. Hell, a slap in the face would be the closest to physical affection he might ever get from Silver. But no, no matter how much he spent, how many cars he crashed, how many times he got arrested, his dear old dad never so much as batted a single eyelash, let alone an eye, just sent more money to pay off the charges._

_But tonight, in the penthouse, Silver had his arm draped across Gray's shoulders, pulling him in to introduce him to yet another potential partner._

_"You need to loosen up, son, it's your birthday!" Silver chuckled, with the fake smile Gray couldn't say he knew — it wasn't like he ever saw it, or him. "Have some champagne."_

'Son?' Maybe he really did forget my name.

 _"Drinking age is twenty-one,_ Daddy _."_

_"Fine, do what you want - but it's not like any of us will tell." While Gray's head was turned, he made eye contact with a man and shot him the ghost of a wink. Not that he would've hesitated even if Gray was watching._

_"Fine, I guess," he muttered, grabbing a glass from a passing waiter and downing it. The bubbles that gave the drink its name burned at his throat going down, but he welcomed the warmth that pooled in his chest and sunk down._ Way _down._

_A couple more drinks in and Gray was barely stable on his feet. When he felt a pair of hands on his waist, roaming a bit too low under the guise of assistance, he took the path of least resistance. He let the hands guide him to the bedroom suite. On the way, his gaze washed over the bathroom and a brief wave in his brain drifted toward the oversized bathtub, and how iconic it would be to die in it. Blood overflowing, staining the sparkling floor. Pictures would be in every tabloid, every magazine. Uncensored, too — his arms could easily be cropped out, or blocked by a conveniently-photoshopped towel. And he would forever be eighteen, immortalized, perhaps finally noticed by his father._

_The concept left his mind as quickly as it had come. Instead of pain, he felt pleasure, lips locking with the man below him. He recognized the face from magazine covers, a younger businessman._

At least Dad invited someone somewhat age-appropriate, _Gray snarked to absolutely nobody, inside his own head._

 _His lips trailed down Gray's neck, stopping for a bit to leave light markings along his skin. Something his dad would definitely notice. Maybe_ then _he'd be proud._

_Gray rolled his hips, legs folded beneath him as he straddled the other man, who now lay back to enjoy the view. Gray knew what he was doing. It was awfully bold of his dad to assume he was a virgin in the first place. Then again, maybe that wasn't the assumption Silver made. Gray's paranoid thoughts regarding the hidden cameras he'd suspected for over a decade now came flooding back, but were stopped in their tracks by the alcohol in his veins. He pushed all his thoughts aside, and focused on giving this dude the ride of his life while letting his brains get absolutely fucked out. Eighteenth birthday, more like "Gray's-finally-legal day". But he was at least gonna enjoy it._

 

Barely understanding Natsu's dazed mumbling, Gray nodded. "Yeah, I know how 't feels."

The light shone dimly through the smoke that clouded the room, clouded their thoughts, but slowly drifted out the window. Although Gray's room was on the bottom floor, the house stood on a hill, with the first floor carved into the side. His window still overlooked the city, and at sunrise the blinding star's rays found its themselves on his bed, most always directly on his face. This could be a bitch to wake up to when hungover. But at sunset, he had a perfect view of every single color the sky had to offer. And right now, without even bothering to sit up, he could see clouds in the distance that threatened rain.

 

_"Gave love 'bout a hundred tries,_

_Just running from the demons in your mind,_

_Then I took yours and made 'em mine,_

_I didn't notice 'cause my love was blind."_

 

"Hey, y'mind sending me a link ta this play- playla- playl. Fuck. Play, list, playylissssttttt. Shit slaps."

Gray let out a laugh. Stuttering out the words, he felt a tear run down his cheek. "Shit... sl- slaps." 

"What? It does!" Natsu yelled, trying to sit up to challenge him, failing to move much in his inebriated state. "Shit slaps, dude."

Gray nodded. This shit (the music) did, indeed, slap.

 

_"Said I'd catch you if you fall,_

_And if they laugh, then fuck 'em all._

_And then I got you off your knees,_

_Put you right back on your feet,_

_Just so you could take advantage of me."_

 

The music faded as he took another hit, and the further he got, the closer he felt to a memory from nearly a year ago.

 

_Last February. Some time after dark. A bathroom lit only by a nightlight in a house Gray would never recognize sober._

 

_A girl lay in the bathtub, dyed blue hair wet with tears pooling around her. Her shoulders heaved with every earth-shaking sob. Gray was looking for somewhere to lie down. She was looking for a sign to stay alive._

_And so they found each other._

_"Hey, what's wrong?" Gray asked, leaning against the doorframe._

_"Worthless," the girl murmured, through choked breaths. "Dead, should be dead, nobody... Nobody cares, n'body ever cares, 'm worthless."_

_"Hey, no, that's not true at all." Gray sat down on the side of the bathtub beside her._

_"And why not? Why am I wrong? Then again, when am I right? When have I mattered? When has anyone cared for me?"_

_Gray could smell the alcohol on her breath. "You mind?" He motioned toward the tub._

_She shook her head, pulling her knees against her chest so Gray could sit opposite her. The faucet jabbed him if he leaned back, so he sat up, much to his own dismay._

_"Alright, Blue. Talk to me. Tell me... everything."_

 

Suddenly, his memory faded, switching to a much foggier memory.

 

_Sometime. Somewhere._

 

_"An', fuck him! Yeah, fuck him! Lyon. Lyyyyyooooonnnnn. Asshole. Yeah, that sh'd be 'is name. Fuck him. Fuck you, fuck you, fuckin' Lyon!"_

_He felt a hand on his thigh, a soothing touch, a hand he recognized. He felt his pants get tighter, or something like that._

_Minutes passed, minutes that felt like hours but hours that felt like seconds, seconds that felt like days._

_Flash. He couldn't remember taking off his clothes. Flash. He felt heat pooling in his stomach and the strain of his jeans wasn't a problem anymore. Flash. He felt something around him, lips touching his. Flash. He felt something inside him, maybe. Kinda warm. Flash. He felt lips on his neck and fingers entwined with his own. Flash. Salty, sweaty, flesh in his mouth, maybe his own, a familiar taste but he couldn't tell what it was._

 

Flash. Back in his room. A blinding headache broke through the storm inside and pulled him out.

Massaging his temple, Gray fumbled around, reaching for his pen. Natsu's fingers brushed his again, and he brought the pen to his lips, wishing it wasn't the pen he was about to touch. One absolute unit of a hit later, Gray pushed more smoke around the room and felt his eyes flutter shut.

 

Some time later, the sound of a slamming door roused Gray from his slumber. The following silence was deafening. But it wasn't silence. Light snoring came from the general area where his chest was, and he looked down to see a blur of pink. His glasses had fallen off at some point, but he didn't need 20/20 vision to see Natsu lying on him, sprawled out on his stomach like a starfish. Gray felt a blush spread across his face. He listened for another sound, and when the snoring continued, he sighed blissfully. He dared to lift his arm, running his fingers through Natsu's hair. For just a moment, the ambient sunlight caught his eye just the right way and he noticed Natsu's dark brown roots peeking out from under the pink mess. And for an even longer moment, he felt like this... could be normal. He felt for just a little while that maybe, just maybe, Natsu was _his_.

 

Monday. 5:45 pm. Still Gray's bedroom.

 

The next time he awoke was to the sound of rain pelting the glass just behind him. Thunder cracked in the distance, and Gray rubbed his eyes. Those clouds earlier really were a storm warning.

His bed felt empty. His head felt fuzzy. He rolled over, groaning, as if one sound would really fix the emptiness.

He sighed. He got up, leaning on the side of the bed. His brain was yelling some stuff at him, but he couldn't really hear it.

That was when Gray noticed the note on his desk. His wax pen lay beside it, actually plugged in after the day's use. He picked up the note.

 

_"Gray —_

_Thanks for the 'sick day' together ~"_

 

Gray felt a smile creep across his face, unwilling and not at all consented to. But no matter what he did, he couldn't stop.

_"Together."_

Still reeling from the time spent with the boy he absolutely did not, under no circumstances at all, whatsoever, have a crush on, Gray glanced around and sighed when his gaze landed on the rumpled sheets.

It was gonna be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wrote almost all of this today bc this fic got to #16 in the gratsu tag on wattpad


End file.
